A-DAD-OF-FIVE tore round the aisles of Tesco to grab as many goodies as he could for free.

Ron Mayne's mum Deborah Brooker won the Gazette prize of a £500 'supermarket sweep' at the chain's store in Highwoods, Colchester.

So on her behalf and against the five-minute clock, Mr Mayne had to fill as many trollies as he could with grocery items.

Mr Mayne, 57, who lives on Colchester's Gosbecks estate, said: "There was a whole range of stuff.

"Meat, fish, toiletries, butter. We had thought about it and made a bit of a plan and it pretty much worked."

Office manager Mr Mayne was cheered on by wife Karen and son Stewart, as well as members of the Gazette's promotions team.

He said his mum will be given all the groceries and was delighted when she learned she had won.

"She was cock-a-hoop.

"When they rang she thought it was a hoax and learning she had won something as substantial at that, she was over the moon."

Mrs Brooker had collected weekly tokens in the Gazette before she was entered into the prize draw.